It seems that the anti-gay violent hate crimes just keep rolling in. Rick Jones, a 22 year old Utah man, has been the victims of a series of anti-gay attacks/hate crimes. He was first attacked on April 25. He was closing up his pizzeria when he was slammed into the wall by an unknown attacker, and then he passed out from the head injury. He awakened to find someone trying to force him to drink bleach. He apparently passed out again, and when he regained consciousness, he was being treated by a medical team for a concussion and had "Die Fag" carved in his arm.
From Towleroad:
Rick Jones, a resident of Delta, Utah (population: 3,500), was first attacked by an unknown assailant while closing up his pizzeria on April 25. Jones was subsequently slammed into the wall and passed out from the head injury.
But that was just the beginning of Jones' nightmare, as Q Salt Lake reports:
The following Thursday morning, April 30, Jones and his family woke up to the same “Die Fag” words spray-painted on their garage door.
But the story continues past the Utah Pride Festival Weekend, as once again, Jones was victimized by a Molotav cocktail thrown through his bedroom window and, “You’ll Die. Burn Fag” spray-painted on the house.
Jones was home at the time and was able to put out the flames with a fire extinguisher before too much damage was done. The family restaurant was also hit by burglary, theft and vandalism that morning.
From
The New Civil Rights Movement:
"Working through this has been a roller coaster," Jones said.
For the last several months, Jones and his family have been terrorized. And for the last several months the story hasn't been picked up by the media until QSaltLake posted the story on their website yesterday. The Millard County Sheriff’s Office also released a statement yesterday, saying:
"These crimes are the latest in a string of crimes perpetrated against the owners of this local business. The Sheriff’s Office is currently investigating several different leads in these cases. There is a reward available to anyone providing information that leads to the arrest and conviction of the perpetrators of these crimes. Also we would like to encourage all citizens to report any suspicious persons or circumstance to the Sheriff’s Office dispatch immediately."
You can read the QSalt Lake report of these events
here.